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Braves nearing deal with Sherrill

The Braves and George Sherrill have agreed to the terms of a one-year, $1.2 million contract. The signing will not be made official until the veteran left-handed reliever undergoes a physical exam on Thursday or Friday.

While not able to confirm the agreement, Braves general manager Frank Wren was willing to explain why he was excited about the possibility of Sherrill serving as the left-handed specialist he wanted to add to his bullpen mix.

While posting a 6.69 ERA in 65 appearances with the Dodgers this year, Sherrill limited left-handed hitters to a .192 batting average (14-for-73) and .286 on-base percentage. Right-handed hitters damaged him with a .427 batting average and .516 on-base percentage.

“He’s a very effective guy against lefties,” Wren said. “We also felt like he made great strides in the second half of (the 2010 season).”

With Jonny Venters set to serve as the primary setup man and occasional closer, the Braves will use Sherrill and Eric O’Flaherty as their primary left-handed specialists in the middle innings.

“He’s got the good breaking ball,” Wren said. “He’s one of those guys that goes right after them. He knows how to get guys out.”

Sherrill earned All-Star status on the way to notching a career-high 31 saves with the Orioles in 2008 and posted a 1.70 ERA in the 72 appearance he combined to make with the Orioles and Dodgers in 2009.

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We only really had 1 lefty situational reliever since Venters is gonna either be closer or setup. Sherril is gonna be VERY situational unless he definitely turns it around. He had several great years prior to 2010. Papilgee, have you ever looked at Redman’s stats? He was a shot in the dark for a decimated rotation. We need vets in there with the 2 young guys at the bottom. Good move i think. (Also, we took him from the Phils).

We knew you’d be good for at least one Mark Redman type move, Frank.
I don’t think I’ll have as much faith in the coaches turning him around, but if this works out for the better, I’ll be man enough to admit that they have more business running the organization than I do.IF this works out.

What’s to turn around? His stats bear out his success as our projected LOOGY. Nothing more needed. Now the bullpen is set with righty and lefty veterans for middle relief, ground balls, and lefty/lefty. (Moylan, Linebrink, Sherrill). And all have had enough previous high level success to continue mentoring Venters and Kimbrel. But we need a leadoff CF player because we will be groaning about McLouth all the way through June until they do something about it.

Sherrill is like the reliever version of Vazquez: great year / bad year / great year / bad year. In 2009 in 72 appearances Sherrill had an ERA of 1.70, and 21 saves. The reason he only had 21 was because he was traded to the Dodgers during their second half playoff run where he posted a 0.65 ERA as the setup man to Broxton. That doesn’t really sound like Redman to me who had always been a journeyman 5th starter.

I’m having problems posting, so I’ll try this again…
tommygriff – I guess this was the meaning of buying low, as Sherrill EASILY had his worst year ever last year.
vivabeta – before Redman became a Brave, his career ERA was 4.65 and his winning percentage was easily below .500. I remember him making the AL All-Star Team in ’06 because “they had to take SOMEBODY from the Royals.” He pretty much stayed true to his form in Atlanta.

I am one see this trade as maybe Sherrill used as a setup/situational lefty. But what I am wondering is with the signing of Crawford does that mean the Braves will make a deal for Elsbury or one of the Outfielders from Boston?

Hahaha yeah I know, it’s crazy. Their outfield is almost entirely ex-Braves. Frenchy, Blanco, and they’re about to sign Melky. Also see: Betemit, B Pena, J Chavez. Oh Frenchy.. how low can you go…
P.S. when can we call Greinke up to the big club in Atlanta from AAAA? Should we wait until the AS break to give him some more seasoning?

The Red Sox got tired of waiting for Ellsbury to be what Crawford already is. I suspect Ellsbury gets moved soon. Crawford, Cameron, Drew, with McDonald as the 4th and maybe Nava 5th. Ellsbury is soon to be outta there.

NC parroted a proposal that has been made by about everyone since September. The Red Sox got Cameron because the AL East is essentially an arms race where both teams just try to outbid each other no matter what their needs are. Ellsbury would be great, but we have McLouth and that’s what we’re stuck with. I would love to see an out of the blue move by the Silver Fox, but I don’t really see that happening. Honestly, I still really want to see what Schafer can do this year now that his wrist is apparently back to 100%. A successful 2011 campaign for him would make next year’s offseason much more interesting with CF set, which I’m sure NC will appreciate since he doesn’t care at all for the actual game of baseball just the transactions.

DOB seems ready to have Jordan Schafer’s child at this point, so I can’t wait to see what all the commotion is about. If he does become what he was once thought to be, the Braves are going to be pretty solid. This is a good team for him to debut with. The vets will put up with no crap from a petulant star, but they will embrace the effort if he is ready to lay it out there for the team. My fingers are cross.

It sounds like Jordan Shafer is growing up. His offseason regimen is impressive. I hope maybe this “petulant star” will rub off on some of the “Vets”. We could use a few more players, who are p.o’d when they can’t compete and who want nothing better than to get back, rather than calling the coach to make sure they won’t have to work to hard in ST. The Cox days are over, I am ready to see a team with a little fire in it’s belly. If this kid can get his swing back, he will be a force. I guess we get a chance to see what LP can do. Don’t be surprised to see this kid rake in ST, you heard it here first.

Viva, you are using Chipper as an example of a good attitude??? Christ, the guy is as big of loaf as GA was when he was here. He dodges tough pitchers, has a vodka flu day whenever he wants and is hanging on past the point where his skills dictate he should, just to collect a check. He thinks because he’s been around a while, he shouldn’t have to work as hard. I mean he’s rehabbing his knee by stepping in potholes out hunting? I mean I loved the guy, when he was changing positions and reducing his salary for team benefit. Those were days when he had mentors(Smoltz, Glavine, McGriff et al). That hasn’t translated into him being a great mentor for the younger players. He is good technically, but wouldn’t be the player I would want my son to emulate. Martin has already flown past Chip in that category.and Uggla will be great. Those will be our team leaders, not Chipper.

Seeing as how much of a d*ck Schafer was when he was at camp with the Braves and how players like Chipper called out the attitudes of the young players (not naming names but glaring at Schafer), I don’t see DOB just having a man-crush. Maybe the wrist is the best thing to happen to Schafer, since sometimes the best thing is to have the high horse knocked right from under you and be shown some humility. The guy has the skills, seems he is showing the work ethic, and maybe now he’ll have the right attitude. He’ll be in Gwinnett to start the season, but maybe not for long. Hopefully not selling low on him and keeping him on the 40 man roster for 2 years will pay off.

bogator, we did pretty well not having a top-of-the-line CF last year. We did nothing but improve our lineup by adding Uggla, and you predict we fall in the standings? Remind me not to take you to Vegas anytime soon.
Bill, I’m with you on Schafer. If he has a spring like he did before the ’09 season, watch out.

I am excited to see Spring Training this year. If Schafer is back to the physical talent that he was in ST 2009, it is going to be a really good year in Atlanta. I was in Gwinnett on a daily basis in 2009-2010, and I can tell you first hand that the kid they had named Schafer was not even close to ready to compete, mentally or physically. There were conversations with Braves players there on rehab, and even jokes made by the manager about his bad attitude and ridiculously short attention span.

However, we all grow up sometime, and the issues he has gone through seem to have made a huge difference in Schafer. Living with his dad probably has helped immensely as well. I will be cheering strongly for his return to form, and for the rewards that follow if he does. It is a wrist, so it won’t be that hard to tell if he is back or not. For 2 seasons he never turned on a fastball and hit it hard, not once. If he does in ST, that is a very good sign. Imagine how good McLouth can be if Schafer is tearing it up right up I-85.

Chipper seems like he needs to decide if he really wants to play, or if he just doesn’t want to not play. It won’t truly be Freddie G’s team until the first time Chipper takes a weekend to miss some pitchers, or goes past Gonzalez to Bobby and gets called out for it. That will happen. Freddie is not a fan of coasting in uniform.

Chipper is the key to this season in 2011. Also, don’ t underestimate the leadership Dan Uggla will bring. I really think this is going to be a great year for the Braves.

Bill, we will have to agree to disagree about Chipper. The reference about Chipper regarding Schafer was when he came to town like he owned it during Spring Training 2008, which was also the year Chipper Jones won the batting title. I think the guy knows his limitations and will sit a few out a few games because of it, but the team is much better with him than without him. Also, how did you guys get such a view into the inner workings of Chipper’s mind? It’s pretty impressive how you guys can have these insights into how lazy, unproductive, and apathetic the greatest Brave of the past 2 decades really is.

Viva, we can have a view into the inner workings of Chippers mind as easily as you can evaluate Shafer’s. I think what you are evaluating as Shafer’s bad attitude is mostly frustration with being hurt and unable to play like he was used to. Trust me, I know that feeling. You also have to consider the fact that he was VERY young at the time. This is an org. which quickly jettisons bad apples(insert SS here). I am thinking that if Wren and company have protected this guy and continue to support his comeback, he might not be the problem that you think, viewing it from the outside. I saw a lot of him in the spring of 2009 and i saw what everyone else saw. He was killing it. Offense, Defense and on the bases. If we see that kid in the next few months our CF and leadoff problem is solved.

This was the year 2008, BEFORE he was injured and his attitude was brought up several times by several people. This was also pre-HGH suspension. I’m not trying to peer into his mind, I’m just stating what I read in many different sources, because I spend way too much time thinking about this team.

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